Tadatomo Yoshida (吉田 忠智, Yoshida Tadatomo, born 7 March 1956 in Usuki, Ōita Prefecture)[1] is a Japanese politician and former member of the House of Councillors from the proportional representation constituency. He was elected twice, in 2010 and in 2019. He previously served as an Ōita prefectural assembly member.

He ran for the Chairmanship of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and defeated Tokyo City Toshima Ward Councilor Taiga Ishikawa, the first openly gay SDP elected politician, by a vote of 9,986 to 2,239 to win the party election on 14 October 2013. He was inaugurated on 26 October 2013 as SDP party leader.[2]

After a disappointing result in the 2016 upper house election, he announced his resignation as head of the party.[3] He eventually retracted his resignation after the party urged for him not to resign.[4] Yoshida concluded his term as president on 25 February 2018.[5] Yoshida is planning to run again for elected office in the future.[6]

On 24 December 2020, Yoshida submitted a notice of withdrawal to the Social Democratic Party and a notice of admission to the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), both of which were accepted on the same day.[7]

In March 2023, he resigned from his proportional seat in the House of Councillors to become a candidate in the April by-election for the Ōita majoritarian seat in the 2019 class. As CDP-nominated candidate with JCP and SDP support, he narrowly lost to government candidate Aki Shirasaka (LDP - Komeito) by 341 votes.[8][9]

References

  1. ^ "吉田忠智 - 立憲民主党". 立憲民主党 (in Japanese). The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. Archived from the original on 2024-03-04. Retrieved 2024-03-16.
  2. ^ Qing, Shen (2013-10-14). "Tadatomo Yoshida elected as Japanese SDP's new leader". Xinhuanet. Archived from the original on November 16, 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  3. ^ "SDP leader Yoshida to resign over Upper House election defeat". 14 July 2016.
  4. ^ SDP, September 5, 2016: 吉田忠智党首は続投
  5. ^ "社民、又市新党首を承認 立民軸の共闘推進" (in Japanese). Nihon Keizai Shimbun. 25 February 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  6. ^ @tadatomoyoshida (February 26, 2018). "昨日、4年4ヵ月にわたる社民党党首の任務を終えて、又市征治新党首に引き継ぎました。ご支援頂いた皆様に感謝申し上げます。今後は、国政の議席奪還に向けた活動に専念します。一層のご支援ご指導をお願いします。" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. ^ "元社民幹部２人が立民に入党 国会議員１５３人に". 産経新聞. 2020-12-24. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  8. ^ "「銀座」封印、３４１票差制す　参院大分". Asahi Shimbun. 2023-04-24. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
  9. ^ Yomiuri Shimbun: 2023 unified regional elections feature pages, election results, House of Councillors by-election, retrieved 2023/7/18.

External links

Party political offices
Preceded by Chair of the Social Democratic Party
14 October 2013 – 25 February 2018 		Succeeded by